Thursday, April 30, 2015

#1: Clinton: "...the Office of Government Ethics and the career ethics officials at the State Department have looked at the rules and concluded there is not an inherent conflict of interest in any of my husband’s work at all. However, the foundation and the president-elect decided to go beyond what the law and the ethics rules call for to address even the appearance of conflict and that is why they signed a memorandum of understanding, which outlines the voluntary steps that the foundation is taking to address potential concerns that might come up down the road.” (Committee On Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Hillary Clinton Confirmation Hearing, 1/13/09)

#2: Clinton: “The memorandum of understanding is, as you know, public and the president-elect and the foundation and I have all worked to be very transparent. My team has stayed in close touch with the committee and we’ve addressed the committee’s questions on these issues in a broad range of written answers which are part of the so-called QFRs, the questions for the record.” (Committee On Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Hillary Clinton Confirmation Hearing, 1/13/09)

#3: Clinton: "...when it was all submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, they said there was no inherent conflict. My husband doesn’t take a salary. He has no financial interests in any of this. I don’t take a salary. I have no financial interests. So out of that abundance of caution and a desire to avoid even the appearance, the president-elect’s transition team began working with the foundation to try to craft an agreement that would avoid the appearance of a conflict but would also ensure that the foundation can continue its work.” (Committee On Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Hillary Clinton Confirmation Hearing, 1/13/09)

#4: Clinton: “So the work of the foundation, the confidence that it has created with donors who know that it has an extremely low percentage that goes to any overhead. It has a very transparent way that it uses the money...” (Committee On Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Hillary Clinton Confirmation Hearing, 1/13/09)

But what shocked [Wicomico County Sheriff Michael Lewis] the most, he said, was when city police told him not to confront and accost the rioters...

“I was sick to my stomach like everybody else. … This was urban warfare, no question about it. They were coming in absolutely beaten down. The [city officers] got out of their vehicles, thanked us profusely for being there, apologized to us for having to be there. They said we could have handled this, we were very capable of handling this, but we were told to stand down, repeatedly told to stand down,” he said. “I had never heard that order come from anyone — we went right out to our posts as soon as we got there, so I never heard the mayor say that. But repeatedly these guys, and there were many high-ranking officials from the Baltimore City Police Department … and these guys told me they were essentially neutered from the start. They were spayed from the start. They were told to stand down, you will not take any action, let them destroy property. I couldn’t believe it, I’m a 31-year veteran of law enforcement. … I had never heard anything like this before in my life and these guys obviously aren’t gonna speak out and the more I thought about this, … I had to say a few things. I apologize if I’ve upset people, but I believe in saying it like it is.”

What we know so far:

- Valerie Jarrett is the coordinator of "demonstrations" in cities nationwide. She is "on the phone" with mayors, radicals and activists. NYC is the next big one and has already started.

- Every incident of a black person getting shot by police or roughed up resisting arrest is being examined by a Democrat team to see how useful it could be. Media allies will be told which to go after and what messaged to include.

- They will occur in Democrat-run cities and the police will be hamstrung (stand down, fall back, don't look aggressive, etc....) to maximize vivid scenes of violence and destruction and make authorities look powerless.

- This is an IW [information warfare] campaign that will go on all summer and escalate in cities around the country. The overarching memes will be economic injustice, judicial prejudice, income inequality, white racism and police brutality. They are throwing the police and firefighter unions under the bus on this.

- The goal? Set up another Dem messianic candidate and blame Republicans for the violence. Party before country for Democrats, always.

- Despite the Democrats owning this (cities dominated by Democrats for many decades... like Baltimore) they are convinced they can turn it around and their constituency is dumb enough to buy. They are probably right.

- Louisville and Baltimore were the test events. Baltimore went well. Sharpton is on his way to cement it in, then on to NYC.

- Thug is the new "N" word.

- Pointing all this our too loudly may get you a Breitbart event. Yes, it has gotten that bad.

Employing the concept of doublethink, the Party gives ironic names to its branches as a way to euphemize what they actually are:

The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty. – George Orwell 1984

QOTD: "Part of the reason so many people feel compelled to defend the indefensible is that Hillary is essentially the only game in town for Democrats, a choice that the party has made for itself. And America's "gliding queen" isn't in any rush to address any of these serious allegations -- or anything else for that matter: Since announcing her presidential campaign 17 days ago, she has answered a total of seven questions from the media. And most of her "answers" were either facile deflections or substance-free cliches. Why subject yourself to real questions when you can stage phony "listening sessions" with hand-selected supporters stripped of their cellphones, and pander on Twitter." --Guy Benson

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The Obama administration is “siding with Iran” while operating “over the heads of the Saudis” in its deliberations over the future of Yemen, Tony Badran, a research fellow for the Foundation of Defense of Democracies, wrote Friday in an analysis published on the Lebanese website NOW News.

Badran noted that a number of administration officials, while publicly claiming to support the Saudis, have actually “tilted much more toward Iran.” Last week, for example, one administration official said that Saudi Arabia should stick to defending its border.

Our president has emboldened the Iranians so much that they feel comfortable telling Americans sanctions will be lifted in July while at the same time informing U.S. Senator Tom Cotton he will basically have nothing to say about it.

President Obama is allowing Iran to become a superpower in the region. He has abandoned our allies and has embraced Iran for a terrible deal. While Mr. Obama won’t sit down or try to work with the Republican Congress, he will sit down with Iran and give them more power than he gives Congress.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted Sen. Tom Cotton in a speech today. He said there will be a relief of sanctions in July, “whether Sen. Cotton likes it or not.

Zarif is the head of the negotiations and he obviously believes all sanctions will be lifted immediately in accordance with his agreement.

Anyone who thinks Mr. Obama isn’t trying to establish a one-party system, needs to look at how he treats Congress and consider his other policies such as open borders.

The congress is letting Americans down at every turn. Sen. Ron Johnson put in an amendment to the Corker bill which would require a final Iran deal to be submitted to the Senate as a treaty.

The Senate voted 57-39 to reject the measure. They have every intention of approving the Iran deal no matter how bad it is. It is obviously a treaty.

In case you didn’t see these tweets, we are literally in bed with the enemy.

Erick Erickson has a great turn of phrase to describe the Clintons. He says they have "financial anorexia", i.e., no matter how many hundreds of millions of dollars they accumulate, they look in the mirror and see the same middle class Americans they once were.

Bloomberg (the news service, not the crackpot ex-mayor) - ...The reason this is a politically explosive revelation is because the Clinton Foundation promised to disclose its donors as a condition of Hillary Clinton becoming secretary of state. Shortly after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the Clinton Foundation signed a “memorandum of understanding” with the Obama White House agreeing to reveal its contributors every year. The agreement stipulates that the “Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative” (as the charity was then known) is part of the Clinton Foundation and must follow “the same protocols.”

It hasn’t…

...The reason this is a politically explosive revelation is because the Clinton Foundation promised to disclose its donors as a condition of Hillary Clinton becoming secretary of state. Shortly after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the Clinton Foundation signed a “memorandum of understanding” with the Obama White House agreeing to reveal its contributors every year. The agreement stipulates that the “Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative” (as the charity was then known) is part of the Clinton Foundation and must follow “the same protocols.”

Oh, and that's not all: at least 181 companies, individuals, and foreign governments that "donated" to the Clinton Foundation also lobbied the State Department while Hillary ran the joint.

Even the Clinton Scandal Manual (deflect, blame the accuser, ignore the charges, etc.) may not be enough this time.

After Kasich expanded Medicaid unilaterally, a state panel approved $2.56 billion in Obamacare spending for the expansion’s first 18 months. The money was meant to last until July, but it ran out in February.

QOTD: "In order to accept the notion that Bill Clinton was unknowingly cashing seven-figure checks from the same firms that were asking his wife for a favor, one has to suspend disbelief and abandon common sense to an absurd degree. Surely, some committed ideologues will be able to do just that, but perhaps not enough to salvage Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions." --Noah Rothman

The size and scope of the symbiotic relationship between the Clintons and their donors is striking. At least 181 companies, individuals, and foreign governments that have given to the Clinton Foundation also lobbied the State Department when Hillary Clinton ran the place, according to a Vox analysis of foundation records and federal lobbying disclosures...This list of donors to the Clinton foundation who lobbied State matters because it gives a sense of just how common it was for influence-seekers to give to the Clinton Foundation, and exactly which ones did.

Bear in mind that this analysis only includes the disclosed donors. The recently-revealed Russia/uranium deal involved undisclosed donations (part of a pattern, it turns out), in violation of a transparency agreement Hillary signed upon joining the State Department. Team Clinton's excuse for failing to disclose the information has unraveled under cursory scrutiny. Clinton's defenders insist that nobody has offered concrete proof that this multi-million-dollar "slush fund" favor bank ever resulted in direct action by the State Department; at some point, though, enough smoke convinces people there's a fire. And the smoke is billowing:

The Washington Free Beacon's Lachlan Markay reports that industrial giant Boeing is refusing to release emails with Hillary Clinton's State Department that could implicate the candidate in (yet another) pay-for-play scandal.

Airline giant Boeing said this week that it will not release correspondence pertaining to the State Department’s work in securing a Russian contract for the company, a donor to the foundation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

...Boeing donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation. It also lobbied the State Department while Clinton helmed the agency...

...Clinton went to bat for Boeing early in her tenure at State. She pushed Russian officials to approve a multi-billion-dollar contract for Boeing planes...

A ship traveling in international waters, owned by a company with significant ties to the U.S. government and flagged to the U.S.-protected Marshall Islands, was diverted under fire by Iranian naval forces to the port of Bandar Abbas.

Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the cargo ship’s master had initially refused an Iranian order to move further into Iranian waters, but after the warning shots were fired the MV Maersk Tigris complied.

Warren said the cargo ship has been boarded by Iranians, but no one has been injured and no Americans are involved.

Warren said the cargo ship issued a distress call and the US Naval Forces Central Command, based in the area, sent a US destroyer and an aircraft to the area of the incident to monitor the situation.

While the Marshall Islands is a sovereign country, the U.S. “has full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands,” according to the U.S. State Department. Maersk, the shipping line whose vessel was commandeered, is one of the largest employers of U.S. merchant mariners, and “operate[s], manage[s] and maintain[s] ships for the U.S. government ships in preposition and surge sealift capacities,” according to its website.

Patrick Megahan, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that Maersk Tigris was in international waters when it was seized.

QOTD: "...if you were not trying to buy influence of some sort exactly why would you donate to a so-called "charity" that only spends 5.9% of the money received on actual charitable programs?

Go ahead folks, tell me what possible motivation someone who is rich might have in "giving" to such a foundation when virtually none of your money is going to go to actual relief causes such as feeding poor people and helping disaster victims." --Karl Denninger

Monday, April 27, 2015

The first Republican attorney general for the State of Arkansas in the modern era must immediately launch an investigation into the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the first step is to subpoena the foundation records. With the revelations of possible violations of law occurring almost daily, there is probable cause to launch an investigation.

The Clintons have a long history of making incriminating documents disappear, so it is imperative that the AG act quickly to prevent any destruction of those records.

It is unlikely that the IRS or the Justice Department will investigate the Clintons and their eponymous foundation anytime soon, but the Arkansas attorney general does have the authority to look into any wrongdoing since the foundation is incorporated [PDF] in the state of Arkansas.

The newly elected AG, Leslie Rutledge, will likely be branded by the Clinton machine as a member of the vast right-wing conspiracy, since she holds membership in the National Rifle Association and the Federalist Society and bills herself as a conservative. The media and liberal bloggers will dig up all the dirt they can find to try to discredit her. However, the prospect of these attacks must not deter her from performing her duties as the chief law enforcement officer for the state.

Arkansas law requires that charities register with the state and also disclose their financial data, principally by attaching the IRS tax form 990. In addition, charities must comply with Arkansas law, which one would assume covers a multitude of possible misdeeds.

The AG should obtain details of travel records. The foundation paid $8.4 million in 2013 in travel expenses out of total expenses of $85 million. Did the foundation pay for any personal travel unrelated to the mission of the foundation? Salaries and benefits should also be a target, since they totaled a whopping $30 million. Did any of those salaries pay for staffers who might be considered political operatives? The list goes on.

The investigation should include copies of e-mails sent between the foundation employees and Bill and Hillary and other staffers to determine if there is any “shred of evidence” of wrongdoing.

The AG must move quickly, since the Clintons will stonewall all they can to delay and thwart any investigation. Leslie Rutledge will be doing this country a great service if she decides to investigate.

Even when I worked there, Renaissance Capital had close ties to the Kremlin - the relationship made Renaissance executives into oligarchs. By 2010, the firm had become a practical arm of Vladimir Putin. Nobody of sound mind would think otherwise.

Bill Clinton took that half million dollar payment as his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, served as a key member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). This inter-agency panel must approve foreign purchase of private American companies the government deems vital to our national interest.

Shortly after Bill Clinton delivered the highest paid speech of his life, CFIUS was to consider and approve the key Russian purchase...

... [But in] 2010-2011, I ran acquisition communications for Safran Group, the French government-controlled defense contractor which bought the US biometrics company L-1. It took us almost two years to gain CFIUS approval for France, an historic ally, to purchase a biometrics firm, not even remotely a strategic asset. We were stymied at every turn by an endless stream of questions.

In contrast, the Rusatom acquisition of UraniumOne got CFIUS approval in four months - for control of 20 percent of America's strategic uranium.

These two CFIUS approvals were happening at precisely the same time. Safran couldn't buy a break and was questioned at ever turn. Somehow, Kremlin-controlled Rusatom's purchase sailed through on a cool breeze.

Any insider will tell you that, considering the vital nature of the CFIUS-UraniumOne proceedings, it is certain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was directly involved. And Bill took $500,000 indirectly from the Kremlin at the same time.

In other words, we have an actual experiment that proves the Clintons are dirty. A control acquisition, with no national security implications whatsoever, was blocked at every turn. A deal for America's precious uranium resources -- a key to nuclear weapons construction -- was approved faster than fecal matter through a goose.

Before Hillary left office in 2013, the Clintons appeared bound and determined to slurp up as much money into their Foundation as possible, spending as little on direct aid as one could imagine for a "charity". The New York Postreports:

The Clinton Foundation's finances are so messy that the nation's most influential charity watchdog put it on its "watch list" of problematic nonprofits last month.

The Clinton family's mega-charity took in more than $140 million in grants and pledges in 2013 but spent just $9 million on direct aid.

The group spent the bulk of its windfall on administration, travel, and salaries and bonuses, with the fattest payouts going to family friends.

In 2013, according to the Clinton Foundation's IRS Form 1990 filing [PDF], the organization actually spent more than twice as much on travel, conferences, conventions and meetings than on actual, eh, grants.

Even the grants that were made were dubious "investments". One such grant was nearly half a million dollars to a San Francisco-based group called "Architecture for Humanity". Earlier this year the group announced it was closing its doors.

The average compensation for the top Clinton Foundation executives we know of was roughly a quarter of a million dollars a year. In fact, as Karl Denninger explains:

You might be interested in knowing that the "charity" had 35 employees with reportable compensation (that is, over $100,000) and their top five combined had $2.6 million in direct (that is, cash) compensation and another $278,000 in benefits for approximately $3 million -- or 1/3rd of all spending on "charitable causes". On a grossed-up basis the charity spent $21.8 million on salaries and wages or approaching three times what it spent on "charity."

In 2013 The Clinton Foundation employed 400 people, which means it doled out only $22,000 per employee.

In other words, it was -- as the Sunlight Foundation describes it -- "a slush fund", not a charity.

Do we really need a candidate who is so flippant (or so poorly advised) that he is forced to reverse field on a regular basis? And, more importantly, what do his constant backflips say about his principles?

Oh. And don't even get me started on his support for Mitch McConnell over a true conservative (Matt Bevin) in Kentucky.

While a measles outbreak was spurring new calls for vaccinations, Paul said in a Feb. 2 TV interview: “I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.” ... Pediatric groups called the remarks irresponsible, saying the benefits of child vaccines greatly outweigh the risk.

Campaigning for a Nebraska Republican in August, Paul sparred with reporters who asked about his earlier calls to end foreign aid to all countries, including Israel... in 2011, Paul proposed a budget that would end all foreign aid, including that for Israel. He defended the position in an ABC News interview at the time.

Kentucky's Republican nominee for Senate, Rand Paul, is running away from his past support for abolishing the federal income tax in favor of a national sales tax... As the [Lexington] Herald-Leader wrote, Paul was on shaky ground when he said he has "never said anything like" support for the fair tax.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Sen. Ted Cruz argued Saturday that Democrats have become so extreme and "intolerant" of religious views that "there is no room for Christians in today's Democratic Party."

"There is a liberal fascism that is dedicated to going after believing Christians who follow the biblical teaching on marriage," the Texas Republican said in his speech before a Christian conservative audience in Waukee, Iowa.... For his part, Cruz alluded to business that faced pushback for declining to cater to same-sex weddings.

...As the Supreme Court gets ready to hear oral arguments on whether to overturn same-sex marriage bans in states, Cruz introduced legislation last week that would protect bans in place ... "We need leaders who will stand unapologetically in defense of marriage," he said.

Scandal: Which is worse — keeping classified information in a personal journal at home or doing government business and transmitting classified data on a private email account managed from the Clinton family home?

This adds a new level of premeditated secrecy and deceit to the actions of the presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

It also adds a new level of hypocrisy to the most transparent administration in history's pursuit of former CIA Director and commander of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus.

Petraeus, who had an extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, pleaded guilty, after a lengthy government investigation, to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information.

Petraeus had kept in his home a set of eight "Black Books" containing his notes and observations about his experiences, as well as classified information including conversations he had with the president, diplomats, and national security officers. Petraeus provided Broadwell access to these documents but, as far as we know, the information went no further.

So why has no criminal investigation been launched into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email account linked to a home-based Internet service, presumably vulnerable to foreign hackers, used to send emails also possibly containing classified information to people who shouldn't have access to it?

QOTD: "Digicel [helped] helped create a system to transfer money via cell phones. In the six months running up to September 2012, it took in more than $50 million in revenue in Haiti.

Digicel is run by Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien. He set up lucrative speeches for Bill Clinton and donated millions of dollars of his own money to the Clintons' foundation.

There was also a plan to raise money by exploiting Haiti's rich mineral wealth.

One company that got a rare gold permit was VCS mining. It didn't actually have much mining experience, but it would soon have Hillary Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, on its board.

"Tony Rodham has no background in Haiti and he has no background in mining," said Schweizer. "Why on earth is he on the board and in this position to profit from VCS's mining gold exploitation permit in the first place?"" --Fox News

Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Republican Party is becoming more and more detached from their conservative base. They seem to vote against anything the conservatives want and do all they can to enable our Marxist president. As Andrew McCarthy put it, “Voting to confirm an attorney general who won’t uphold the Constitution isn’t a way to inspire confidence among conservatives.”

Last Thursday, Karl Rove couldn’t wait to announce that, “The dysfunctional Congress finally appears to be working again as the Founders intended.” Really? Because this isn’t the way I perceive the Founders having intended it at all. They would have impeached and removed a sitting president who acted like a monarch. Then to validate Rove’s proclamation, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed as attorney general Loretta Lynch who blatantly supports the systematic non-enforcement of federal law. Ms. Lynch also supports President Obama’s boldly unconstitutional usurpations of legislative authority, including Congress’ power to set the terms of lawful presence by aliens in our country. Ted Cruz slammed the Republican majority in the Senate for allowing the Lynch nomination:

That piggy bank, otherwise known as "The Clinton Global Graft Initiative", had an interesting way of doling out the "contributions" it received.

The Clintons are a malignant tumor on the body politic. They have a history of doing anything for money -- including selling out their own country -- and when it comes to their personal bank accounts, there's apparently never enough zeroes.